Records are made to be broken, even those set under different rules and laws. This one is about the number of home runs hit in an entire season.
It was in Toronto that Aaron Judge inscribed his name in the grand history book of the New York Yankees. After a seven-game drought without a home run, Judge finally caught up to Roger Maris and his 1961 record.
He may have made Major League Baseball wait a few games, but Aaron Judge finally tied the American League record by hitting his 61st home run of the season on Wednesday against the Blue Jays in Toronto.
In the seventh inning, the 30-year-old colossus sent a pitch from Tim Mayza, who had just entered the game, out of the park. Mayza had previously allowed a single to Aaron Hicks, which enabled Judge to add two runs to the board.
In front of the family members of Roger Maris, he tied the Yankees’ record and that of the American League.
This home run also allows him to double the legendary Babe Ruth, who had hit 60 home runs in 1927.
Maris had to wait until October 1st, 61 years ago, to surpass the Bambino. He had hit his 61st against Tracy Stallard of the Boston Red Sox. Judge still has seven games left to claim the top spot in Yankees history.
Maris was 35 years old in 1961 during the first season when each team’s schedule went from 154 games to 162 games. Baseball Commissioner Ford Frick then ruled that if a player broke Ruth’s mark in more than 154 games, « there should be a distinctive mark in the record book indicating that Babe Ruth’s record was set with a 154-game schedule. »
This distinctive mark took the form of an asterisk and remained until September 4, 1991, when a committee on statistical accuracy chaired by Commissioner Fay Vincent unanimously voted to recognize Maris as the true record holder.
In addition to attempting to double Maris, Judge is also trying to become the third player in Yankees history to win the Triple Crown after Lou Gehrig in 1934 and Mickey Mantle in 1956. The last player to achieve this feat was Miguel Cabrera of the Detroit Tigers in 2012.
In the same week, Albert Pujols also reached 700 career home runs. It’s therefore an impressive year in the chase for records.
On the French side, we are light-years away from these statistics. Who knows who the best hitter in France’s Division 1 is and what year he had? Feel free to let us know in the comments…
By 2024, for the 100th anniversary of the Federation, at the same time as the creation of a French « Hall of Fame, » perhaps there will be a place, a site where we can have the main statistics of French records.
